Voters Report Problems at the Polls

Columbia, SC ( WLTX)-- The long lines were expected, but voters say they weren't expecting issues like few machines and broken equipment as they went to the polls today.

Many have called the News19 newsroom to report the issues. One voter complained of only two machines working at Oak Point Elementary School. Another called from the Dutch Fork area, reporting the same issue.

We spoke with Chris Whitmire, the Public Information Officer for the State Election Commission. He says the number of machines at any location is determined by the number of registered voters in that precinct.

Speaking to the concern about broken machines, Whitmire says, "There are polling location technicians that are assigned to multiple polling places. And if there is a machine that is not working they send a technician out there to get it working again. If they can't get it working again, obviously they can't use the machine and will work on getting another machine to that polling place. If there's not enough machines to serve the voters they can use back up paper ballots."